Confused About Leave Availability? Seeking Clarity on HR Policy After Joining

I work in a private firm. As per HR policy, I am entitled to 20 days of earned leave (EL) after a year, 5 days of sick leave (SL), and 7 days of casual leave (CL) annually. My date of joining (DOJ) is 01-12-2011. I applied for leave on 06-02-2012, but HR informed me that there are no available leaves. I have not taken any other leave. Could you please provide clarification on this matter?

Thank you.

Regards

Dear member, it is difficult to guide you unless you provide more details about your leave policy, such as whether the company's policy requires an employee to complete a minimum period of service in the first year to be eligible for accruing leave. In the absence of such stipulation, your leave entitlement of 20 days a year works out to one day of leave for every 18 days of service. In that event, your leave balance at the end of 31-12-2011 on a pro-rata basis works out to 1.8 days, which can be rounded off to two days and credited to your leave account as of 1st Jan 2012. You can request your HR to use their discretion and grant you leave, as all you are asking for is one day off in February.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Consultant